Monday, October 20, 2008
Enzymes and Allergies
Between my forgetfulness, and having company, and eating away from home, I haven't had my enzyme capsules with meals since Friday. The roof of my mouth itches. My eyes are red and itchy. The allergy symptoms are threatening to overwhelm. Sometimes I don't believe that the enzymes do so much to keep me comfortable. And then I forget to take them and can really see how much I depend on them. I suppose Sudafed and Claritin would be a little cheaper (assuming I used off-brands) but it's nice to know the enzymes are dealing with the real problem instead of just treating the symptoms like the allergy meds do.
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I guess I could ask Katie, but could you explain a little more what the enzymes do? (I've been on a mill-several allergy meds since I was a kid and I'm curious) (a younger kid/child?) Thanks
ReplyDeleteI've got the link there to one of a gazillion web-pages on what enzymes do. But the basic gist of it is the you need enzymes to digest food. So much of our food today is cooked or canned or pasteurized or treated in some other way. Killing the enzymes in the food means it will spoil slower. But it also means you don't have the enzymes in the food that your body requires for digestion.
ReplyDeleteWhen you can't digest the food properly
1) you aren't getting all the nutrients that you should get,
2) you have particles of undigested food that doesn't belong coursing through your body.
So your body has to manufacture extra enzymes from your pancreas, and cope with the lack of food enzymes. That's a strain on your body, and it shows up in various ways. In me, one of the ways it shows up is in allergy symptoms. In many people it results in digestive problems (reflux, constipation, heartburn, etc).
It's kind of like my body has only so much energy to expend. If I have to spend too much energy on digestion, then I don't have as much energy to cope normally with pollen. When I take the enzymes with my main meal of the day (or when allergy season is bad, maybe an enzyme with each meal) then I just don't suffer the symptoms like I do when I forget.